Russian citizen and billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, owner of the Tashir Group, will remain in custody for another 30 days. A Yerevan court has extended his pretrial detention.

Tbilisi police detained 20 participants in a rally against the adoption of the law on foreign agents. Among them are three foreigners: one Russian citizen and two US citizens.
Opponents of the law and observers again noted that police used brutal force and beat protesters. This was also noted by the People's Defender of Georgia Levan Ioseliani.
“The use of force must be necessary and proportionate, must be justified by specific legal measures and in no case must escalate into targeted violence or reprisals against a citizen,” the ombudsman said in a statement.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili told the authorities that their actions and violence are Russian, and the rhetoric of Prime Minister Kobakhidze is Russian. Zurabishvili offered the ruling Georgian Dream party a way out - to postpone the entry into force of the bill on foreign agents to November 1, when the parliamentary elections in the country will be over. The head of state addressed law enforcement officers, urging them not to “even dare” to use blackmail and intimidation against society.
Today, the Legal Committee of the Georgian Parliament supported in the third reading the bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” known as the Law on Foreign Agents. Tomorrow, in the third reading, it will be considered at a plenary meeting.
Since April 4, the opposition and civil activists have been holding demonstrations in Tbilisi against the adoption of the bill. Police repeatedly used pepper spray and water cannon to disperse protesters.

